Kira's nap had mended her mind and spirit. Now, it was time to give her body what it wanted.
A fight.
Then maybe afterward her and Graydon could do some exercise of a different nature. At that thought, Kira turned to look at him. Instead of the wolfish smile she'd expected, there was horror on his face as he stared at her.
No, behind her.
Too late, Kira caught the subtle shift that said danger was close.
Finn and Talon's sparring ground to a halt as her oshota turned toward her with a cry. Wren came out of his katta, already flowing into an attack.
"There you are, little sister. I've been looking for you everywhere," a man whispered in her ear.
A hand caught the back of her collar and yanked. Someone kicked the back of her knee, sending her off balance.
Kira tipped backward, catching a glimpse of her assailant. A man, his head shaved on both sides, his hair left long on top. A chunk was missing from the tip of one ear. The other docked in the same manner as Kira's.
Pallas winked at her. "There are a few people who want a chat."
The last thing she saw was the J1N following. The void snapped closed, extinguishing the light.
Graydon
The rift vanished, Graydon missing it by milliseconds.
He roared, his rage filling the room with an almost physical presence as his ki roiled.
No. No. NO.
He wasn't going to let this happen. Not again.
Raider raced into the room a second later, a sword already in hand. He slowed to a stop when he found no enemies waiting for him, looking around in confusion. "Where's Kira?"
Finn folded forward, collapsing to his knees. "She's gone."
"What do you mean she's gone?"
Finn's face showed devastation, his pupils wide, eclipsing his irises. He looked like a man whose world had just been destroyed. "I didn't stop it."
Talon set a hand on his shoulder. "There was nothing you could have done."
Finn covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking as he lost control of his emotions.
"Would someone like to tell me what the fuck is going on?" Raider shouted.
Graydon ignored the question as he knelt in the place where Kira had disappeared, touching the ground where she'd last stood as he threw wide his senses. The ship faded around him as the universe flooded Graydon's mind.
A younger, less trained Tuann would have been overwhelmed at the amount of input. Their mind would have broken under the strain.
Graydon let the pain pass through him. Where are you, coli?
There. A trace.
Graydon opened his eyes. "I have her."
Wren knelt beside him. "Are you sure?"
Graydon struggled with the impatience that question caused. Of course, he was sure. He wasn't a man that made mistakes.
Graydon spared no attention for those around him, focusing on the increasingly tenuous connection. A single lapse in concentration and he'd lose her.
He closed his eyes again, concentrating on the ki he'd scattered into the air like a net the instant before the rift had snapped closed around Kira. His soul's breath condensed. He used it to rip open the remnants of the fissure in time and space the other man had caused.
Graydon strained, the tendons in his neck standing out as he forced it open a millimeter at a time.
"Holy shit," Raider exclaimed as the air screamed.
A breeze stirred, quickly becoming a gale as Graydon's ki manifested as black sparks in the cargo bay.
Finn lifted his head, hope replacing his devastation.
Talon quirked an eyebrow, looking impressed as Joule and Devon drew closer.
With one last cry, Graydon ripped the rift the rest of the way open. He staggered to his feet, fighting a spell of dizziness.
"I'm coming with you," Finn declared.
"Wait," Raider started. "Don't tell me. That crazy guy with the ability to rip holes in the fabric of reality took her."
"And Jin," Joule added quietly.
"Graydon, I'm her oshota. I need to go," Finn said, focusing on Graydon.
"You can't. It won't support both of us," Graydon informed him.
And if anyone was going, it was going to be him.
Graydon squared up with Finn, ready to flatten him if he tried to force the issue.
"You're not thinking of following her through that?" Raider waved a hand at the rift in disbelief. "Are you crazy?"
"Kira is on the other side," Graydon ground out.
Finn's stance eased at the human's interruption, the moment passing as the oshota ceded his duties to Graydon just this once.
"You're just as crazy as she is," Raider muttered.